The working collection / Six free field guides

Ideas you can put to work.

A difficult choice. A principle under pressure. A powerful tool that needs a human limit. These exercises turn a question into something you can examine, practice, and keep.

Adapted from Martin Genter’s developed Renaissance Academy curriculum and participant workbook. Each guide opens as a simple, printable worksheet. Use it on your own or as the beginning of a thoughtful conversation.

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FIELD GUIDE / 01

Judgment

The Tragic Decision Map

Make a difficult choice without pretending away uncertainty, loss, or responsibility.

Preview the exercise
  1. What is lost or limited?
  2. What remains uncertain?
  3. What is still mine to govern?
  4. Who bears the consequences?
  5. What would courage look like without fantasy?
  6. What would despair allow me to avoid?

Take one action identified by the map. Return to the page and record what happened.

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FIELD GUIDE / 02

Self-government

A Personal Constitution

Put into words what you serve, protect, refuse, and practice—especially when it costs you.

Preview the exercise
  1. I serve…
  2. I refuse…
  3. I protect…
  4. I practice…
  5. I will not sacrifice ___ to achieve ___.
  6. Evidence may change my mind when…
  7. When I fail, repair means…

Test one principle against a real decision: what happens when this commitment costs you?

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FIELD GUIDE / 03

Responsible technology

The AI Stewardship Brief

Define where AI helps, what needs checking, and which decisions remain human.

Preview the exercise
  1. Tasks AI may assist.
  2. Tasks AI may never independently decide.
  3. Sensitive data that may not enter unapproved systems.
  4. Claims requiring verification.
  5. Human approval thresholds.
  6. Authorship and provenance disclosure rule.
  7. A skill to preserve without AI.
  8. Incident and correction process.

Ask a colleague to test these rules against a difficult case. Revise the gaps before using them.

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FIELD GUIDE / 04

Daily practice

The Virtue Practice Card

Give a virtue a specific action, a real pressure, and a way to tell whether you practiced it.

Preview the exercise
  1. Virtue.
  2. Its counterfeit.
  3. The pressure where I fail.
  4. Daily practice.
  5. One proof action.
  6. Person affected.
  7. What evidence counts.

Practice for seven days. Record the action, pressure, result, and next repair.

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FIELD GUIDE / 05

Citizenship

The Civic Service Canvas

Turn concern for a community into one bounded act of useful service.

Preview the exercise
  1. What is the problem?
  2. Who experiences it directly?
  3. What do they say they need?
  4. What institution already owns part of the problem?
  5. What can I actually influence in 14 days?
  6. What would useful proof look like?
  7. What must not be promised?

Choose the smallest useful action. Define the people, permission, and follow-through it needs.

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FIELD GUIDE / 06

Learning

The Weekly Reflection

Carry an idea beyond the page by examining a practice and what it changed.

Preview the exercise
  1. Question of the week.
  2. Text or idea that challenged me.
  3. What I resisted.
  4. What I now see differently.
  5. Practice.
  6. Proof action.
  7. Who else is affected.
  8. Evidence at the end of the week.
  9. One sentence to carry forward.

Keep the evidence and the unanswered question. Let both shape the next week.

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From independent practice to shared learning

Bring the question
into the room.

Explore the six-session Academy curriculum or discuss a workshop for your group.

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